I'm about to make a batch, and it's been a while since I made challah because we moved recently, so times were a little crazy and we went out a lot for Shabbos.

Anyway, a friend of mine told me that for special occasions, she substitutes half the water (maybe less) with pareve coffee creamer, to make the challah really rich. Which got me thinking if there are any other secrets out there about the perfect challah?

Some other examples:
Another woman I know sprinkles hers with vanilla sugar on top (it was so yum!).

And yet another woman I her (actually it's her DH that makes the challah) uses a stick or so of melted margarine (AND oil). Also really yummy.

And my good friend always makes hers with rich dark chocolate baked in (she skips braiding) - her kids are going to grow up thinking all challah has to have chocolate baked in it!

I've seen someone put cooked spinach into a loaf of whole grain bread with sundlower seeds on top. It was heaven!
I think the kneading and rising are key factors. Also having good yeast. I have put honey in with my egg and substituted honey with sugar= delicious!! The tefillos & kavanos are really the secret ingred though.

sugar in the eggwash. remember to double check that its the sugar and not the salt before pouring.

what I use now is a good recipe, and hashem does it all. bh.

I do the vanilla - YUM!!!

and - just did the salt on my last batch in the egg wash - what a mistake!!!

I was wondering why my challah looked so goreous and with speckles of sugar.... when I saw my husbands ace as he took a bite of the challah I realized what happened.... oy! (yuck!))

why do you think I wrote that? I once put in more sugar(than I usually put) in the eggwash , I think it was because we were guests and I brought the challa with me. I took me some time to understand why it was salty.

I like the zaatar and seseme idea a lot, as well as the vanilla sugar.

Does using honey really make it taste different? How so, if you can try to describe? It's just that honey can be so expensive!

Sometimes instead of challah I make a loaf of beer bread. No kneeding or waiting to rise required! And I add yummy herbs like thyme, oregano, dill and rosemary. I can post the recipe if anyone's interested. It's a friend's recipe, I believe they do it for every shabbos!

Although I think my very favorite "secret ingredient" that I've encountered are caraway seeds sprinkled on top of the challah. It is so so delicious! They actually don't sell them in stores around where I live. This family that always uses them gets their supply brought over by other family members when they visit. I think I might try to find them online.

Honey definitely makes a difference - makes the challah taste fresher in a way. In my bread machine recipe I put 2 tsp or so and I put closer to 1/4 c in my 5 lb recipe. I also use coarse salt over fine salt.

I also use kosher salt, but you cannot substitue the same amount.
4 tablespoons kosher salt for 5 lbs flour and for some reason in Israel the salt is different so I use 3 tablespoons for 2 kilo flour here. Yes, tablespoons!

We like savoy not sweet, so sometimes I knead dried onion flakes into the dough.